The West Town Church

Have you ever gotten to a church service and heard the first few minutes of the message and thought "Yes! Praise the Lord!  This will be perfect for the young believers here!"  I know I have.  And in many ways, I think it's a good thing; it's a good thing when we are aware of the needs of the flock, and aware of the needs of those around us (Jesus' last instructions to Peter in John 21 were to take care of and feed his Sheep; Proverbs 27:23 says "Be sure to know the condition of your flocks...").

Yet often times, as a result of that mindset, I stop listening with the intention of seeing the need for growth in my own life, I don't take an honest look at my own life, and even when I do listen, I do so under the assumption this is really for somebody else.  And to be honest, I am most vulnerable when the verse shared or the message given relates to an area of my life that I have down better than most of the people around me.  It's as though I experience the same complex I had as a non-believer ('I'm a pretty good person, because I'm nicer and more moral than most of the people I know').  Yet I forget that God's example, and God's standards, are infinitely higher than myself or those around me; I have never seen a perfect example of faithfulness in prayer, so even if I'm more faithful than any person on this planet, there is still room for me to grow.  And believe it or not, God is going to communicate the ways I can grow through imperfect people.

I believe the biggest reason I don't grow is because I don't listen.  When other people share verses or advice, or when pastors give a message, the truth is that often in my heart I'm only listening so I'm able to respond, carry on a conversation, or contribute in bible study.  But the reality is that verses people share, the messages pastors give, the thoughts others share -- it is a reproof from God for my life!  And I need to have ears that listen as if it's a reproof; yet often times I forget that this is one of the most important ways God communicates to us, and one of the most important ways God is able to sharpen and grow us.  As it says in Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another," but that doesn't happen accidentally.

This sobering passage in Matthew 13 challenges me greatly, when Jesus says, "¹³This is why I speak to them in parables: 'Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.' ¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.' ¹⁵For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them."

If I don't begin to take steps in this area, and learn to listen intently as though the Lord himself is speaking reproof into my life, I am afraid I will experience what Solomon warned against in Proverbs 3, "¹¹At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. ¹²You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! ¹³I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors."

This is my great fear.  That I will be always assuming they are talking to somebody else, or sharing a verse for someone else's sake, or talking just to talk; and I won't humbly take an honest look at myself and see how really, it's me who needs the reproof, who needs the correction.  Yet we have great hope and a great promise in Proverbs 10:17 "He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray."  If I want to be a light to others, I've got to learn to listen very well.